August 10, 2015

banane au chocolat

I'm totally embarrassed to put such an easy recipe up for you, but Julia insisted. I make this shake-slash-smoothie ALL the time for her and the last time I made it, I nailed the proportions so well apparently, she looked at me and said, 'MOM! You should put this on the blog." It's one of her favorite snacks. Or breakfasts.

So here's the 'recipe', and I thought I'd try to disguise how ridiculously easy and basic this is by gussying it up with a fancy sounding name a la francaise. Because everything sounds better a la francaise, mais non?

Um, well let's see. Here are the rough proportions for one smoothie. If you want two portions, just double. For Julia, I take one half a banana and chop it. Everything gets put into my Magic Bullet, but you can also use a blender or hand mixer. Or whatever. I add a heaping spoonful of SWEETENED cocoa powder, maybe a bit more depending on what kind of chocolate intensity I'm going for (see the spoon? that's the size of spoon I use.) I use this kind of cocoa powder because Julia is slightly allergic to common chocolate additives like soy lecithin, so we have to go as pure (and sadly, pricy and high end. but pricing varies so check around.) as possible.
Gah, I forgot a really crucial ingredient in the photo! A nice spoonful of peanut butter or almond butter or whatever-you-want butter. But that goes into every shake.

A smidge of honey. Not a full spoonful. Maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon? Just a smidge. You can also leave it out. But it's better with.

Annnnnnnnd about a 1/2 cup of milk. Or a faux, non-dairy milk. Whatever kind of milky-like substance you want will do.

BLEND. (Oh sometimes I also throw in an ice cube or two.) Add a straw, if you like. There you go, my cookies. I can't tell you how much my kid flipping loves this. Every once in awhile I also throw in a small spoonful of plain yogurt, but that gives it a tang that the kiddo doesn't super appreciate, so mostly I make it just like I've laid out here.